Seven months ago, our Fellows had little or no coding experience. They were working as waiters, office assistants, and Uber drivers. They didn’t think a career in technology was possible.
What they did have was the grit, passion, and determination to succeed. They completed an intensive immersion in the fundamentals of software development. They designed their own web and iOS apps. And soon, they will interview for jobs, develop software for leading companies, and become leaders in the tech industry.
Fellows and instructors from Pursuit’s 5.1 Full Stack Web cohort with industry professionals from Uber Eats, Uber, CitiBank, and CNBC.
Sixty Fellows in our intensive, 10-month software developer training program demonstrated the amazing possibilities of transforming your dream into a product, showing off the full-featured websites and iOS apps they designed in slick presentations at our annual Demo Days at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. The projects, built in groups over the last six weeks, represent a milestone in our Fellows’ journeys to becoming professional software developers.
Our 5.1 and 5.3 Fellows
Cheered on by an audience of industry professionals, investors, families, friends, and Pursuit team members, Fellows showed off websites that enable users to enjoy home-cooked meals by local grannies and connect with at-home beauty and wellness services, and iOS apps that immerse users in our solar system and bring static media to life with the scan of an iPhone.
A panel of industry professionals offered critical feedback to the Fellows, praising them for their thoughtful and highly marketable products. For 5.1, they were Nike Lawrence, General Manager of Special Projects at Uber Eats; Arun Nagarjan, Senior Manager, Engineering at Uber; Nick Lai, Senior Manager, Engineering at Uber; Nikhil Joshi, Global Head of Spread Products Technology at CIti; and Erez Barkai, Vice President of Product Engineering at CNBC. For 5.3, they were Jessica Lin, Co-Founder & General Partner at WorkBench; Kamiu Lee, CEO of Activate; Dion Ridley, Vice President of Engineering at Spruce; Meredith Finn, Partner at March Capital Partners; Zohar Yardeni, Chief Product Officer at The Knot Worldwide; and Richard Rivero, Global Head of Investment Banking Strategists at Goldman Sachs.
While Demo Days may be over, our Fellows’ careers are just beginning. Over the next few months, the Pursuit team will be working with them and partner companies to help them find jobs and launch their careers. This next phase will be both exciting and intense. But with grit, passion, and determination, we know our Fellows will succeed.
